In The Blink Of An Eye: Aftermath
by HeartsGuardianSoul L.D.C
Summary: After the earthquake that took the lives of his mother and Grandfather, Souta is slowly rebuilding the pieces of his life... But life can never be simple. Between his mysterious Godfather, his cousin Yusuke, and some trouble from the past, Souta's got his hands full... Iy, YyH mainly, with a little bit of CCS, TR.
1. Chapter 1

Okay so I was going to add this part onto In The Blink Of An Eye... But this continuation of the story has it's foothold in a different crossover... so here is the beginning of the new arc for In The Blink Of An Eye... Aftermath.

I don't own Inuyasha nor Yu Yu Hakusho. Or any characters from other animes that might appear in this story.

* * *

Chapter 1

Souta smiled as the last of the refugees, an older couple babbled their thanks to him as they and their children who had come to collect them made their way to the steps.

"It was ever so kind of you to take in my inlaws. I'm not sure if we could ever repay you for the kindness that you have done for them…" the young man said before bowing to Souta.

"It was the very least I could do…" Souta said as he waved. As they cleared the steps Souta sighed as they left his view. He turned to face the shrine. The first month had seemed an endless haze filled with strife, sorrow and uncertainty. The second one filled with much of the same… things had finally slowed down in the last few weeks as those without homes to return to, were welcomed in by their families once they had been located.

Souta gazed over the all too quiet shrine, he shivered in the a rare cold June wind. The buildings were in still in slight disrepair, though the well house, was nothing more than a pile of rubble. He slowly walked across the courtyard as memories of his grandfather sweeping the stones… to his mother worrying over him… right down to Kagome trying to cram even more stuff into that ghastly huge yellow backpack…

He sat down, his back against the god tree, and stared at what his life had been and what it had become…

"Mr Higurashi?"

Souta blinked up at the speaker, a well dressed woman in a suit stood there holding a briefcase. "Yes?" he asked as he got to his feet.

"My name is Nyota Kiamotoshi. I am your mother's lawyer. I came by to express my deepest sympathy for the loss of your mother and grandfather."

"Thank you.. But couldn't you have done so by making a call?"

The lawyer smiled weakly as she opened the briefcase. "I'm here on the orders to read your mother's last will and test-" Screeching tires interrupted her briefly. "-ament."

Roughly over the next half an hour several relatives gathered in the house…

Souta rubbed his temples with an inward sigh, as his relatives were screaming at each other. They were all of his father's relatives, his uncle and aunt had yet to appear, but his father's cousins were already arguing over what to do with the shrine and _him,_ the boy.

The lawyer smiled weakly at him as she tried to hide behind the sealed manila envelope in her hands.

The doors cracked open and the fighting stopped temporarily as his mother's brother-in-law and sister walked. His aunt with her don't-give-a-damn-glare glared at the rest of her family, a look that seemed to be shared by the rest of her family.

"Atsuko.."

"Hideki."

"Sano-san."

"Daike."

"Um… If I may?" The lawyer spoke up in an attempt to ease the tension. "This is the last will and testament of Kun Loon Higurashi." she said quietly as she slit the envelope open with a letter opener. All of the noise inside the house died down to the point where the children outside could be heard playing.

"I, Kun Loon Higurashi, Wish to you my family, not to mourn me for I have lived a happy fruitful life, here in this shrine. I have loved children, and I have watched them become strong dependable people… And as for the rest of my family, I have noticed your likes and dislikes… And I know that none of you are suited to taking care of the shine. That is why I Kun Loon Higurashi am leaving The Higurashi Shrine, and all of its treasures and family heirlooms to my daughter Kagome Higurashi, should the terrible happen and she were to pass to the next life before me, will inherit followed by her brother Souta Higurashi, with the blessing of their grandfather Hiro Higurashi."

Souta tuned out the lawyer as he felt the heated glares of his cousins bore into his back. He knew that they, and quite possibly his Aunt Atsuko, had most likely come in hopes of money or getting their hands on the shrine's valuables. Atsuko shrugged as the lawyer finished her long list.

"So the kid gets the Shrine. But who get's the kid?" Atsuko raised a brow.

"Unfortunately, Kun-loon did not mention that in her will. That decision is left to you."

"Sorry but, I've enough trouble my own brat so yeah…." Atsuko stood up. "You guys can argue over him."

It was then that his uncle stood up. "I'm sorry but I've no time to look over shrines… I'm sorry Souta." He pat him on the shoulder as he walked by. The two cousins erupted in a full out screaming match. Souta sighed again. _It always comes to greed…It's all they care about…_"Excuse me…" Souta stood up.

"I don't care what you think!"

"Oh can it Daike!"

"_Excuse ME!" _Souta yelled at the top of his lungs. He shook with rage as he glared at them. "All you two give a shit about is _**money**_. Not this shrine! Not me! Hell I'd be surprised if you even gave a damn about grandpa! This is MY home and I'll be damned if I let either of you two try to take over and pawn off anything in this shrine!"

It was dead silent. Even the noise outside of the house had stopped. The three in the room with him just stared blankly at him. They all jumped when someone began clapping. They turned to find a tall redheaded young man that appeared to be in his twenties standing in the doorway.

"And who the hell are you?" Daike glared.

"My name is Akastuki Hikari. And I am the boy's godfather."

Souta blinked. _Godfather? Mom never said anything about a godfather…_

"Godfather? Ha I really doubt that." Hideki spat.

"I've proof." the young man walked forward and handed the lawyer a set of papers. She went over them with a an expert eye. "These papers are official. He is indeed the boy's godfather. I am to take it that you are going to assume full custody of the boy?"

"I am."

"I've some paperwork for you to sign…" the lawyer pulled him out of the room.

"Bastard."

"I'm out of here. I hope you rot in this place!" Hideki spat at Souta's feet as he and Daike stormed out. Souta glared and followed them out. The two in question barked orders to their children who were climbing over Souta's actual cousin Yusuke. The kids detached themselves from the protesting teenager with a moan of disappointment and quickly followed after their parents.

Yusuke dusted himself off, grumbling something or other about brats and noticed Souta. "Hey shrimp how's it going?"

"I would love to point out that am taller than you by a couple inches Yusuke." Souta grinned.

"Yikes when the hell did Aunt Kun-loon give you miracle grow?" Yusuke said as Souta walked over.

"Maybe you shoulda ate your veggies." Both of them chuckle lightly.

"It's too bad Kagome isn't around anymore. Maybe she could have stopped that hostile takeover…"Yusuke sighed. "So how've you been holding up?"

"I'm okay… I've slowly been able to clean up the shrine but you can see how its still in disrepair…"

"I heard that they were using this place to gather the dead, didn't that unnerve you at all?"

"Why do you care?" Souta raised a brow.

"Eh. This place feels different that's all." Yusuke shrugged.

"What the big bad Urameshi afraid of a couple ghosts?" Souta poked him in the shoulder.

"As if."

"Oh God." Souta said in mock fear. "I am right that you haven't said a single curse in the last five minutes! It's a world record!"

"Oh shut it dipshit." Yusuke jabbed him in the stomach.

"I think Aunt Atsuko wants to leave." Souta noticed his sloshed Aunt over by the top of the stairs. "I see she's drunk again."

"Believe it or not that's normal for her." they started walking towards his aunt.

"Right.." Souta said as the sound of screeching tires could be heard. "God if I never see the cousins again it'll be too soon."

"So that was that noise in there. So who gets to decide your fate?" Yusuke asked as they reached Atsuko.

"Do you remember seeing the red haired guy go in?"

"I was busy trying to escape the rug rats to get a good look but yeah I saw him."

"Apparently he's my godfather." Souta said as he shook his head. "I've _never_ seen nor heard of him before now."

"Hm… well… It could be worse. The cousins could have gotten you instead. Consider it an act of god or something like that." Yusuke shrugged his shoulders. "Well… Don't be a stranger Souta."

"Likewise."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the animes that appear in this story. The next chapter will be more full of the yuyu gang. ^.^'' But until then here is the newest chapter.

* * *

Chapter 2: Akatsuki

Souta bid farewell to the lawyer who seemed a little less frazzled by now, the red headed man, Akatsuki had managed to calm her nerves rather quickly with his charm and good looks. This of course annoyed Souta to no end.

The red haired man was a mystery to him. In the last two months Souta had to learn to keep his newfound spiritual powers under wraps, but that didn't stop him from being able to see other peoples auras… And he couldn't see this man's aura.

As soon as the lawyer was gone, he turned to find Souta glaring at him. Akatsuki smiled at him. "Hello Souta."

"…Hello."

"So um… Shall we go talk?" Akatsuki said as he walked back towards the shrine.

"Who are you?"

"Just as I said, I am your godfather."

"Then how come I haven't seen you before today?"

Akatsuki paused in front of the tree of ages. "The last time I really gotten to see you, you were only three. I've kept in touch with Kun Loon over the years… but I haven't been able to visit for some time now. In fact, I was supposed to come for a visit two days after the earthquake."

Flashback…

"_Say why are we getting so much anyways?"_

"_We have company coming in a couple days…"_

End flashback…

Souta shook off the memory as it threatened to bring tears to his eyes. "So you were the reason mom was acting weird."

Akatsuki turned around to face him. "Kun Loon had invited me."

"Is that truth?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Look I don't know how much you heard of my rant, but I was serious about not letting anyone trying to sell out the shrine from under me." Souta watched Akatsuki's face for a reaction.

"I've no intention of doing any such thing." Akatsuki said sincerely. "Between your mother and my mother I doubt they'd ever forgive me if I did."

"Right…" Souta said with a shrug. "Look I'm going to go to the store. I'll be back in a little while."

"I was thinking about ordering in."

"I'm fine with cooking." Souta said as he hurried down the steps.

Souta sighed as he made his way through the park. _Why couldn't things stay the way they were? What was the harm in leaving me by myself? I mean seriously what harm could come from it?_

_If only Kagome would come home…_

xXx

Akastuki sighed as he entered the quiet house. It had been the better part of eleven years since he had last set foot in here… not much had really changed…He could see her sitting there a warm cup of tea in her hands as she watched Hiro tell Souta and Kagome about the legendary roots of the shrine…

Akatsuki stared at the photos that lined the walls, full of the loving happy little family that had once filled the house with laughter and good times. Akatsuki's gaze rested on one picture, one that would have been over looked by most people as a costume party…

"Oh, Kagome…"

XxX

"Souta?" Souta blinked and looked up from his internal reverie to find a Tomoyo looking around Uotani from the back seat of a black car. Souta smiled widely as he turned towards the car. "Hello Miss Diadoujii. How have you been?"

"Very well thanks. Do you need a lift?"

"Um…"

"Come on kid it's the least we could do." Uo said as she stepped out of the car and held the door open.

"Thanks."

"So… how've you been?" Tomoyo asked.

"Well, things have been hard, but they are getting better. My mother's lawyer came by earlier to handle her estate. It turns out that she and grandpa left me the shrine. And supposedly I have a godfather I never knew about."

"Congratulations?"

"Thanks but… I'm not too sure how I feel about him being there."

Tomoyo smiled warmly. "Maybe you should give him a chance. You never know you might get along."

"Maybe…" He said dismissively before changing the topic. "So What are you doing in this part of Tokyo?"

"My mother and I had a business meeting. I don't know if you knew this but I've my own line of fashion designs."

"I vaguely remember you saying something back when we first met." Souta said as the Car pulled up next to the temple steps. "Well thanks for the ride."

"It's no problem. It's the very least I could do after what you've done for me and Uotani." Tomoyo smiled.

Souta quickly climbed out of the car as he fought hard not to blush under her gaze. "Good day Miss Daidoujii."

"Please call me Tomoyo, Souta. See you later!" she said as she waved goodbye.

xXxXx

Souta stared at Akastuki with contemplative looks over the diner table. _Just who the hell is this guy?_

"So… Souta… what grade are you in?"

"I'm a third year middle school student at Atoroshi Jr. high."

"Have you thought of High School?"

"… I'm not sure…"

"If I'm not mistaken you have several scholarship offers. Have you considered them?"

"I don't play soccer anymore." Souta bristled.

"…" The silence that fell was very audible.

Souta slammed his hands down on the table as he pushed himself to his feet. "I'm not leaving. Like I told _them_ I am not going to let you take over my family's shrine." He glared down at the table trying to fight back tears.

Akamatsu smiled. "I have no intention on taking your shrine from you. My mother wouldn't forgive me if I did."

"Your mother?"

"Kagome." Souta snapped his head to look at Akamatsu, but instead of the simple ordinary man , sat an auburn haired demon with bright green eyes, pointed ears, and five tails…

Souta tensed before his eyes flickered towards a picture mounted on a shelf featuring his sister and her friends from the past… one of them a small little kitsune…

"Shippo?" Souta stared with wide eyes.

xXx

Several minutes later... Souta rubbed his temples in a futile attempt to rid himself of the headache he already felt forming. "How is it you're still… _here_?"

Shippo raised a brow as he slowly sipped his tea. "Surely your sister told you a little about Youkai."

"Well yes, but up until a few months ago I did know that there were still Youkai in the world." Souta frowned.

"The earthquake was a result of the barrier between this world and the Makai being broken. About four hundred and fifty years ago King Emna and the Kings of the Makai resurrected the barrier to help _protect _the humans from the Youkai. But in doing so they locked up many that were in fact trying to help them."

"You were one of them."

"… I've slipped out from time to time to invest my money." Shippo looked out the window his tails twitching. "Also to keep an eye on the shrine. Though in the current century it's been a real pain to do so… with that Enma Jr creating his little spirit detective squad."

"Spirit Detectives?"

"Nevermind…"

"So Shippo… Whatever happened to… to…"

A dark shadow cast itself over Shippo's eyes as he stared at the destroyed well house. "Souta… I…"

"She doesn't come back does she?" Souta said in a tense voice.

"No."

"What happened to her?"

Shippo looked away from the well house. "…Souta…"

"Please. Tell me."

"Kikyo killed her."

"…" Souta lowered his gaze as a mild grief came over him. They really were all gone. This he had realized once already but with the finality of it just seemed…unfair.

"Souta… are you okay?"

Souta smiled weakly at him. "Yeah. It's not really that big of a surprise to be the truth. Somehow I kind of knew." He pushed his chair out from the table. "I think… I think I'm going to take another walk."

"Be home by ten." Shippo said with a smile.

xXx

Shippo watched Souta as he made his way out of the house with sad eyes. He felt for the boy, the better part of five hundred years and it still hurt him to think about it. He cleared the plates from the table and found himself staring at the remains of the well house. It' didn't matter even if they fixed the well house, the past was written in stone. Kagome was gone, Sango and Miroku were ashes in the wind… Inuyasha and Kikyo were also dead… Sometimes the years felt heavy on him…He hadn't even heard from Sesshomaru in ages… The kitsune sighed sadly before he started washing the dishes_. Only if she hadn't died… _


	3. Chapter 3

Many thanks to the three of ya'll that reviewed. Yays toXxMomoMunchyxX, TheNotSoNiceLibrarian, and k-popluver4eva. And Thanks to the rest of you that faved.

Anywhoo I figured I'd warn ya'll that things are still kind of grim in this chapter... But I figured that I'd get the some of the past events out of the way now so that the story can progress...

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the animes or the characters that appear in this story and the list is minorly compromised of Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, CCS, and Tsubasa... Here is the newest chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3: Higurashi Shrine

Somewhere in the darkest pits of the demon world….

There was a ripple in the fabric of the universe and with a blinding light a glowing feather appeared and drifted down to land upon a demon, frozen in stone… as it touched stone returned to flesh, and the demon with the spider marked back opened his eyes…

Naraku pulled the feather off of his arm, turning it in his hand. He could feel the power in the feather pulse… _From what creature are you from? _he thought as he smiled… this… this could be very good… for _him_.

xXx

"Good grief this is such a freaking pain…" Koemna beat his head on a stack of paperwork. Things were not going so well with the restoration of the barrier to the demon world. On top of it the amount of humans being slain by demons were spiking he was thoroughly running off of fumes with his resources.

Damn it why did the Youkai have to go bolting for the ninengen as soon as the barrier was down?

Granted Yusuke and the others were doing a decent job at hunting them down but it still wasn't really making a dent in catching them. Another file fell off the stack to land under his head.

Koenma groaned and went to beat his head once more when his eye caught sight of the file… It was a report of youkai that had been destroyed at a shrine back after the barrier had come down.. It was a rather large amount… Higurashi shrine….

"George!"

"Yes sir?!"

"Get me any file pertaining to the Higurashi Shrine!"

"Yes sir!"

Why does it sound so familiar?

"Here sir."

"…. This is it?" Koenma glared at the medium sized file. _A shrine as old as this one you'd think it's be a little larger…_

"It's all that I could find…"

"Right… Shoo then…" Koenma waved him off. As he began to read the file. "It was founded based on the Shikon-no-tama priestess' companions who created the temple to preserve the Goshinboku and the bone eater's well and the memory of the priestess… The Jewel in question was destroyed'?' Why the hell is there a question mark here?!" Koenma growled as he flipped through the small file reading quickly… Periodically a strong demon presence was recorded but not investigated until the nineteen twenties… The powers of the Shrine keepers at this point died out and merely became a memetorium and teaching shrine… Koenma kept flipping and cursed. "About ten years ago the powers of a _miko_ were occasionally sensed and recorded but not investigated?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

Meanwhile outside his office George and a few ferry maidens stared at the door. Botan sighed as she came find the small gathering… "Hey what's going on?"

"We think He's finally cracked from all of that paperwork."

"Damn that means I've lost my fifty yen. He coulda waited another day to flip out on us." Botan sighed as the door slammed open to reveal her baby faced boss.

Koenma searched sildly through the crowd gathered outside his door until his eyes lit up on her. "BOTAN!"

X

Back in the human realm…

Souta sighed as he climbed the steps to the shrine. School had been exhausting, especially with trying to fend off the track and soccer team coaches. The harassment to join was constant lately especially since there were high school scholarships in consideration. But his heart wasn't in it anymore. Souta topped the stairs to find Shippo talking to a construction worker.

So he was serious about helping me finish the repairs…

Souta thought as Shippo noticed him and waved. Souta sighed as the fox excused himself from the man and made his way over to him.

"Hey how was school?"

"The same." Souta shrugged and nodded his head at the men working around the shrine. "Will they be able to save the well?"

"They think so. But the rest of the structure will have to be replaced."

"I see."

"I've got to go keep an eye on them. Try not to get into any trouble okay?"

"What do I look like a kid?"

Shippo gave him a droll glance.

XxX

Yusuke yawned as he placed his feet on Koenma's desk, causing a mini avalanche. Koemna gave him a glare as Kuwabara sat in other chair. "Couldn't we get just one day off toddler? I haven't seen Keiko in weeks."

"I am sorry about that honestly. But as you know things have rather nasty since the barrier went down. However this is a simple mission I just want you to check out a strange shrine."

"That's it? You couldn't just call us over the com for this?"

"Well yes but… this way I _know _that you get the mission."

"Why the hell wouldn't we get it?"

Koenma glanced around the room nervously. "Look just keep your voice down and listen. There is this shrine that lies in complete obscurity, it get swept under the rug more often than not and I want you to check it out and tell me if there _is_ anything going on at this shrine."

"Okaaay. What's the name of it?" Kuwabara asked mildly intrigured.

"Here! Here!" Koenma hissed tapping at a slip of paper. The two of them glanced down at the slip of paper…

Yusuke burst out in a fit of laughter. "You're kidding me right?"

Koenma frowned at him. "What's so amusing?"

"This shrine that you're so nervous about. It's my _cousin's _place, there's nothing out of the ordinary there!"

Koenma blinked at him. "That's not what my paperwork says. There have been reports of a strong demonic presence as well of that of a _miko_ recorded about the shrine."

Yusuke rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "I don't recall anybody but my aunt and my cousin living there… but never any shrine maidens."

"Who took care of the shrine?"

"My cousin's grandfather. He was a daft old bat. He was always telling tales and myths about the shrine…"

Koenma held up a hand. To stop Yusuke. "Enough, something is not right in that shrine and you're _going _to go check it out. Hell I'll make you stay there for a week if I must."

x

Souta sighed as he set aside his algebra book and rubbed his sore eyes. A quick glance at his clock brought a slight groan from him. It was 3:56 a.m., and he was still not even halfway through his homework. He got up from the desk and made his way into the kitchen for a glass of water. He paused as a moan caught his attention. He poked his head into the living room where the kitsune lay tossing and turning on his futon.

"Shippo?" the boy cautiously walked into the living room. "Shippo wake up." he nudged him with his foot. "Shippo…." Souta leant down to gab his shoulder. Green eyes snapped open to meet his own brown ones. "You okay?" Souta asked as the fox blinked several times at him.

Shippo smiled up at him weakly. "I'm fine what's the matter?"

"You were moaning in your sleep.. I figured I'd make sure you were okay…"

The nightmares were still clinging to the shadows in his eyes as Shippo shook his head. "It's just bad memories… I'll be fine. You can go back to sleep."

Souta opened his mouth to say he wasn't tired but caught the knowing glint in Shippo's eyes which told him the kitsune wasn't going to take a no for an answer. "Goodnight Shippo." he said as he went back to the kitchen for his water.

Shippo listened as Souta made his way to bed. He breathed a heavy sigh as the door to Souta's room snapped shut. Shippo could tell that the boy had only wanted to comfort him… but five centuries after the events that unwove in his nightmares, there were things that happened that nothing would ever comfort him…

_Flashback_

_Kagome rocked Shippo to sleep in he arms as she gently hummed. Today had been a particularly harsh day… The had managed to kill a horde of ogres that had decided to try to take the jewel shards from Kagome… It wouldn't have been hard had Inuyasha hadn't been off goodness knew where… Though if anyone had to guess, his nose was more than likely stuck up Kikyo's ass._

_Kagome stiffened as she sensed Inuyasha and Kikyo's presence neared their camp. "Sango… could you watch over Shippo for a couple minutes?"_

_"Sure… but Kagome… don't say anything you'll regret."_

_Kagome gave her a smile._

_"It's about time you showed up." Kagome growled as they entered the clearing. "Where the hell were you?!"_

_"Oh can it wench."_

_"You might find it hard to believe, but we do count on you to help us find and protect thee few jewel shards we **do** have."_

_Inuyasha sneered. "All you ever do is bitch about having to hunt for the damn thing anyways. Why don't you give me the shards to hang on to?"_

_"You know that I have keep the damned thing purified."_

_"Whatever. Let's go Kikyo."_

_Kagome growled deep in he throat. "That's it just run off with the clay pot."_

_Kikyo froze in the midst of their retreat. She turned with an irritated glare. "I've been pretty tolerant of you incarnation, but your petty whining is tiresome. You're only jealous that Inuyasha still loves me and not **you. **And whether you want to admit it or not you will **never** be able to replace **me** in his heart. And despite that fact, you are not the only one who can purify the Shikon no Tama. **I** can." And before any of them could blink an arrow was leased from her bow._

_The arrow pierced her heart as Kikyo laughed and soon kissed Kagome collapsed on the ground, Shippo, Sango and Miroku crying her name as her eyes grew dim…as Kagome Higurashi died Kikyo spat on the dead woman…_


End file.
